Jewelry Bells by Gordon R. Barnett

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MORE KANSAS CITY…

Liberty Memorial is another landmark I remember from my youth… a tower commemorating the losses of the first World War, dedicated in 1921. An important museum was added when its foundations were restored & rebuilt at the end of the century… as complex as the world change it explores, it is a rare source, done well.

These forms fascinate me for their somber reflection… precisely the solemn mood with which I left the buried museum.

The story is poignant:

Two Assyrian Sphinxes guard the south entrance of the Liberty Memorial. “Memory” faces east toward the battlefields of France, shielding its eyes from the horrors of war. “Future” faces west, shielding its eyes from an unknown future.

I ponder inspiration toward possible bells…

Fortunately our brothers Jon & Michael were more than cheery guides for our day’s varied adventures… at lunch I discovered the antique tile pattern signified to immigrant folk who could not read that this was a drug store…

We’d walked to a river access nearby the Arabia River Boat Museum, which Stephen & I had toured during some free time while attending the bell convention, I’ll segue with a ceramic pitcher from the collection of an interesting archaeologic dig…

This boat carried an entire inventory for the winter’s needs of a small town in Nebraska… Now thousands of objects being restored & displayed… preserving significant history.

Here are Jon & Michael playing in front of the Kemper Museum on our last visit…

Brother-in-Love Michael grew up in nearby Belton. He & Brother-Jon have lived in Kansas City all the 34 years of their relationship. We’ve enjoyed visiting their several interesting homes over the years… always being remodeled. BroJon has a well deserved reputation for making bold changes in a house. While we all got some version of that bug from Poppa Vic, Jon is the one still actively maintaining such passion… working on their own home plus another house as an investment.

Jon & I had a grand time when he came to Arizona in 1977 to help with my house in Sedona, which we ripped apart, added onto & quite totally remade. [I ought to continue the series describing my various studios by featuring Up-Willow.] We also built a deep relationship during that period when he was ready to come out. I became a more proper big brother with the one who was a youngster of 10 when I left the farm for college. We’d had neither the time nor the freedom earlier] to forge that bond. We’ve become only closer over the years.

He has recently returned to an older connection with the Midwest Men’s Festival, which is held at a parcel of land in Kansas named Gaea. He’s connecting to the spirit of a property owned & maintained for the use of alternative communities & wanted to share this special place. We grabbed pizzas & drove for an exploratory hike & picnic followed by a swim in the pond… enjoying a bit of heaven in the state where I was raised but long mostly rejected…

My brother is deeply complex, rudely sensitive, ponderously lively. I respect his complicated path. As gay siblings we juggle a lot of mirrors…

A gate in the woods brings easy ritual to us as we pass to explore various sites for various communities Pan’s point around to Venus’ Mound.

I can only celebrate again the curiously elucidating difficulties & joyous discoveries I’ve had along my own journey…

Michael is an imp whom I’ve come to easily love…

He has his own complexities… to have lived with my brother for their decades…

One human-made feature on the land was a rustic corral of sorts…

Yet… the spidery tree I would not have imagined in the land of the ruby slippers my Dorothy refuses to click the heels of… rewarded me with an organic symbol of the web in which we live…

I‘ve been enjoying unraveling tangles & re-weaving webs as stories around our travels to the bell convention in Kansas City…